Kaitlyn Rokita ELD 307 Running Record Assessment

Running Records from the DRA 2 kit are commonly used to determine reading levels and comprehension levels of students. The DRA 2 consists of multiple parts. In the first part, there are questions about how the student feels about reading and who they read with, etc. The second part of the DRA 2 includes reviewing the pictures with the student and having the student make predictions of what the story is about. The third part of the DRA is the running record. During that section, the student reads to the teacher and each word is marked for accuracy or if miscues were made. The last section of the DRA 2 includes a comprehension section. The teacher will ask the student question about the story to test for comprehension. There is a continuum of how to place the student into a certain level and from there, the teacher can form guided reading groups. In Mrs. Shwoms first grade classroom at Wicoff Elementary School in Plainsboro, New Jersey, the DRA 2 is used to assess her students reading levels. I had the opportunity to give a DRA 2 assessment to Dhruv, a six-year-old first grader in Mrs. Shwoms classroom. I performed the assessment on him during independent reading time. I was testing Dhruv at a higher level than what his placement in his current reading level was. Mrs. Shwom noted that Dhruv was performing well in his current guided reading group and wanted him to test at the next level to see if he can move in in reading level and guided reading group. The book he was tested on was about a girl named Kim who is searching for an umbrella in the house with her dad and by the end of the book it was not raining anymore. That is a common use or methodology of the

assessment. The DRA 2 is a structured form of determining fluency/accuracy of reading as well as comprehension using different level books with devised questions and rating continuums for each book. My findings showed that Dhruv is not ready to move up a reading level. When I asked him questions about how he enjoys reading, he stated that he wants to become a good reader and likes reading to his parents and his brother. We next went over the book of what he believed the book was about while I used my arm to cover the text. He was able to tell me what the book should be about with accuracy. Dhruv did not score well on the running record. He had eight miscues out of fiftyone words. Some miscues Dhruv made include mispronunciation of words and names (Kim pronounced as came and bed pronounced as bad), and omission of words (he did not say she said twice). This placed him in the emergent level for the running record. At that point the assessment should have been stopped and he should have been tested at a lower level. My inexperience accidentally continued the testing and I moved on to the comprehension section of the DRA 2. When asking comprehension questions about the story, Dhruv was aware that rain and sun were a part of the story. I used two prompts to help Dhruv tell me about the beginning, middle, and end of the story, but he was not responsive after he said rain and sun and that the boy (it is a girl in the story) and dad searched for the umbrella. During the reflection sentence, Dhruv stated that he liked rain after the question stated what part he liked best in the story. The last reflection question asked what the story made him think of and he answer went back and forth stating that he thought the rain was going to end, but it did not, and it did and so on.

I was confused with the results and asked Mrs. Shwom to help me score the assessment. It was determined that he scored in the developing stage for the DRA 2 and should continue to stay in the current reading level instead of moving a level up. The DRA 2 is a well-planned assessment that can place students into reading levels. When giving the assessment, it is scripted with level appropriate questions as well as a detailed continuum to help score the students. Based off of the findings from the DRA 2, I gave Dhruv, I would still keep him in the reading level that he was in before the DRA 2 was given to him. I would work on comprehension skills with him so he can move up to the next reading level and potentially the next level of guided reading groups. While reading the book, Dhruvs fluency while reading aloud was well. From the results of the DRA 2, Dhruv needs to work on pronunciation of some words and strengthen his comprehension skills. To help Dhruv advance those skills, Dhruv should be asked questions in the story such as what happened in the book, who are the characters, and be asked to summarize the book. These questions should be asked during his guided reading time or during independent reading. The books he will reading at those times will be at his true reading level. From observation, his accuracy to answer the questions will be tracked and once he can completely answer comprehension questions and read with complete accuracy, he should be retested to see if he has truly mastered the skills and be placed into a higher reading level. The DRA 2 is definitely an assessment tool I would use in my classroom. Even though it is time consuming to test every student multiple times a year, it is a very structured test that produces clear and accurate results. The assessment is well scripted and provides all of the materials needed to conduct a DRA 2.